​Joan Ruvinsky, who very graciously agreed to a conversation with me on Facing Death at the end of last year when her life and energy were already limited by her illness, has left us.

In spirit she is very much with us, of course, but no longer in her body.

I came to know her more than a decade ago, when I went to some of her meditation and chanting evenings in Montreal. We shared a love of Krishna Das chants and kirtan, and a love of meditation. She wasn't a non-dual teacher yet, and I had yet to meet my teacher Gangaji.

When we reconnected last year for the conversation, we were able to share and exchange in a new way, from a non-dual perspective. You can watch this beautiful video, on The Radical Joy of Facing Death, in which Joan's light is shining so fully and purely. Thank you, Joan, for your gift of yourself, your teachings, and your unique and mischievous love of paradox!

... and maybe the most fitting tribute to Joan is this little video from the very last few minutes of our conversation, where she shares her celebration of Love, as well as her silent, love-filled presence: Death only happens to the body, we are Love.

I had a very beautiful session with a client today that made me reflect on just how practical Love can be, and how it has a tendency to show up in the most unlikely ways and places. The reason why she had called me was that she – let’s call her Clare – and her husband were facing a very difficult situation: their son is having a hard time at school and acting out a lot, and they were considering pulling him out and have him home-schooled. She wanted to get clearer on her feelings about all of this before coming to a decision.

Very quickly during and after she described the situation to me, it came to me to ask whether she had spoken to the teacher. When clients share situations with me, I listen at that level, but I am also always open to the expression of Love. When I asked the question, I had no idea where it would lead, but I trusted the fact that it kept coming. It turns out that it may hold the key to a healing embrace and movement in and with this situation, rather than the disconnecting that they had been thinking of.